Textures

I got another scrapbooking-related addition: textures! It all started when I read this entry in the shutter sisters blog.

The idea is to blend a photo with another one (the texture) to get an array interesting effects. Depending on the texture and the blend mode you can get the original photo to look aged, distressed, brighter or simply weird.

Like what I did here.

Original photo:


Bit of a boring photo, but I liked the "look at that mummy!" that the pointing finger implied.

Usually the texture photo is only that, like a wall, plaster or stones, but I chose photo with a little bit more:



This is the final result:



When I blended the 2 photos I saw that it looked like my son was pointing at the duck. A happy coincidence!

Of course the final result does not reflect the reality. Both photos were taken at the Dublin Zoo, but he was NOT pointing at the duck. However the photo served nicely to illustrate a layout where I say how much I love the way a child sees the word.

Fruit Kebabs

We are just back from a few days in a hotel where we had a great time. One thing that pleased me was that the kids' menu was more imaginative than most of places we've been. It had all the predictable stuff but a little bit more to tempt the adventurous. The menu had a choice of starters and my children tried fruit kebabs the first night, loved them and had to have them every night. Easy to make, bits of fruit in a skewer, fruit coulis and a pastry case with sorbet.

I didn't take any photos (bad scrapper!) but it looked more or less like this:


That shows that a little bit of imagination does wonders for children's appetite. I'll definitely make them at home.

US

I wanted to make a layout with photos of each one of the 4 of us taken in 2007. I am a clean & simple girl at heart, but sometimes I find it very hard to get it right. I punched the circle as a way to unify the layout (stole the idea from Ruth @ Scrapwest), which I am very happy with but my photo is totally disconnected from the other three. It would look much better if the ribbon extended to touch my photo, but now it is too late. Any suggestions?

Coxinha de galinha

Coxinhas de galinha (literally chicken drumsticks) are present in any Brazilian party, from kid birthday parties to posh cocktail parties. They are actually a sort of a croquette with chicken filling.

It is also one of my favourite fast foods. This time I had a helper when I decided to make coxinhas for Lucy's birthday party.

I don't follow a recipe, I just try to repeat what I remember my mother doing it, but I found this recipe online.




The layout is based on a class by the talented Audrey Barret @ Scrapwest.

Jackie's Challenge

Jackie posted a card challenge in the Cara Craft Supplies forum: it had to have use a nature photo and some kind of flourish. Here's my response to the challenge:




The flourish is hand drawn. I drew it with the versamark pen and the embossed it. It was a bit like drawing blind as the versamark is clear, and you can see the flaw in the corner where the lines don't meet. It was only after I had finished it that it occurred to me that I could have first used a pencil and later traced over with the versamark pen. Dooh! Having said that, there is something "fresh" about drawing that get lost if you trace over.

It was my first time using the pen and I really loved it, any silly doodle looks great once you emboss it.